Hemophilia is an inherited bleeding disorder caused by a missing clotting factor (Factor 8 in hemophilia A, and Factor 9 in hemophilia B). Hemophiliac patients suffer from bleeding mainly to the joints and muscles, which can be caused by even minor injuries. The bleeding, which can occur as often as two to three times per week, swells the affected area and causes enormous pain and limitation of joint movement and if not stopped can lead to death. Repeated bleeding attacks, if inadequately treated, gradually destroy the joints and can cause permanent handicaps.
The conventional treatment for injured hemophiliacs is the administration of infusions of the missing clotting factor. If there is no improvement within 12 hours of the first infusion, repeated infusions are given at 12 hour intervals until the joint recovers or the muscle hematoma subsides.
Infusions of clotting factors are very expensive. First of all these are administered in hospitals or special medical facilites and they run in the order of about up to $500 per infusion. About 10-15% of the patients develop antibodies against the clotting factor. Such patients require infusions of a special drug, which is even more expensive than the factor himself. For one such bleeding occurrence, an average patient requires a number of infusions, which can add up to a cost of about $5,000 or more. In addition, the infusions, which are manufactured from blood units, cause many complications ranging from transmission of viral diseases (hepatitis and even AIDS) to damage of the immune system.
Moreover, for the first several hours after infusion, the joint range of motion remains limited. Only after about 24 hours is the joint motion better than at the start of the bleeding, but it is still far from the baseline movement before the bleeding. Physical therapy, such as transcutaneous nerve electric stimulation, can enhance the recovery significantly.
The use of light in healing is not new. Even Hypocrates (460-370 B.C.) treated the ill on beds situated inside caves that had some light focused on them through openings in the ceilings. Hendride Mondeville (1120-1320 C.E.) in France used sunlight through red window coverings to treat scarring from smallpox with great success. In modern times, biostimulation with light waves has also become prominent, particularly the use of low-power ("cold" or "soft") lasers, i.e. having energies below 100 milliwatts, have been recognised as a prominent mode of therapy for the treatment of pain, inflammatory conditions, neurogenic disorders and in healing wounds, burns, ulcers, tendons and bones. A review on this subject entitled "Laser Biostimulation of Healing Wounds: Specific Effects and Mechanism of Action" by Chukuka S. Enwemeka, was published in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy--April 1988, pages 33-338.This technique of biostimulation with light energy, specifically low-power lasers, has been used so far exclusively for the treatment of normal people having the usual blood clotting factors and who were never in danger of profuse bleeding which can lead to death.
Lasers of higher energy were also used for surgical purposes and are known as surgical lasers in the medical field. Such lasers are used to cut, burn or fuse tissues, but not in a therapeutic manner. One such laser device is disclosed by L. Goldmann in U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,001, wherein the laser optic probe device is used by penetrating the skin and entering a blood vessel or the tissue immediately adjacent a damaged blood vessel for creating white scar tissue, causing the vessel to shrink in size and at least partially disappear from view. This method produces heat-induced blood clots at the point where the probe enters the vessel. The lasers used by Goldmann have an energy of 2 to 5 watts. Goldmann also discloses that this method could be used if required in emergency clotting of blood such as in the case of hemophilia. But, as stated above, this method requires penetrating the skin to enter the blood vessel and in effect fusing or scarring the vessel to block any flow of blood. This, of course, requires that each single point of damage is treated separately.